M. Night Shyamalan

Started by Xeditor, January 19, 2003, 10:35:37 PM

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Gamblour.

That's the weirdest fucking idea.
WWPTAD?

soixante

Is it possible for Night to come up with a movie idea that doesn't hinge on some stupid gimmick?
Music is your best entertainment value.

Sleuth

That was a dumb thing to say  :yabbse-thumbup:  :yabbse-thumbup:
I like to hug dogs

soixante

Night makes B-movies that have the production value of A-movies and a patina of seriousness that is fake.  He is basically a 12 year old in a 30 year old's body, a guy who never outgrew comic books and Twilight Zone reruns.  At least Steven Spielberg sometimes makes movies for grown-ups like Saving Private Ryan.
Music is your best entertainment value.

pete

haha, I liked how your counter example to Night Shamalamasingsong's childishness was SPEILBERG's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.
"Christina Aguellera's got no class!  At least Paris Hilton dresses grown up!"
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: soixanteNight makes B-movies that have the production value of A-movies and a patina of seriousness that is fake.  He is basically a 12 year old in a 30 year old's body, a guy who never outgrew comic books and Twilight Zone reruns.  At least Steven Spielberg sometimes makes movies for grown-ups like Saving Private Ryan.

While I think there is nothing wrong in general with the "cinema of the adult child" as it were, I have to agree with you in this case.  Shyamalan really does need to grow up.  Kind of like how DePalma does his best work when he's not making films for 14 year old boys who have just recently discovered boobies.  

It's too bad that Life of Pi never panned out for Night.  He could have done something great with that.

MacGuffin

Shyamalan Casts Lady
Giamatti, Howard join M. Night's next.

M. Night Shyamalan is casting Village actress Bryce Dallas Howard and Sideways star Paul Giamatti in his next flick, Lady in the Water, according to today's Variety.

The film, billed as a fantasy thriller, tells the story of an apartment building superintendent who finds a water nymph in the building's swimming pool. Giamatti would play the super and Howard would play the nymph. Interesting concept... more details to come on that.

Lady in the Water was the second in a two-picture deal for Shyamalan at Disney, but the studio passed. Night subsequently took the flick to Warner Bros. and they snatched it up. Warner Bros. president Alan Horn said last week that he's hoping Lady in the Water will be the first of many flicks that Shyamalan  makes at the studio.  A Disney rep commented that, despite passing on Lady, they've still got a great relationship with Night and that they "look forward to working with him in the future."

Bryce Dallas Howard, who starred in Shyamalan's The Village, next appears in Manderlay from Lars Von Trier. She's also set to star in Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It and Warner Independent Pictures' Mary Queen of Scots.

Warner Bros. is aiming for a July 21, 2006 release for Lady in the Water. If final negotiations with the actors go as planned the film could start shooting in August.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

Shyamalan: Day-and-date 'life or death to me'
By Gregg Goldstein, Hollywood Reporter

ORLANDO -- Director M. Night Shyamalan threw down the gauntlet Thursday night at ShowEast, appearing at the exhibitors convention to speak out against shrinking theatrical windows and rejecting the notion of simultaneous day-and-date releases of new films in theaters and on home video, cable and video-on-demand.

In an interview before his speech, Shyamalan said he planned to ask theater owners at ShowEast's Final Night Banquet and Award Ceremony "for zero tolerance on this -- to say, 'If you're gonna release a movie in another medium, then you're not going to get into our theaters' -- because at the end of the day, they hold all the cards."
 
Speaking from his Philadelphia-area office shortly before leaving for Orlando, the director said: "I'm going to stop making movies if they end the cinema experience. If there's a last film that's released only theatrically, it'll have my name on it. This is life or death to me.

"If you tell audiences there's no difference between a theatrical experience and a DVD, then that's it, game's over, and that whole art form is going to go away slowly," Shyamalan added. "Movies will end up being this esoteric art form, where only singular people will put films out in a small group of theaters."

While such chains as Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Theatres, Loews Cineplex and Cinemark USA already have adopted a "zero-tolerance" stance, while companies including 2929 Entertainment and Rainbow Media Holdings have begun to experiment with simultaneous releases on various platforms, Shyamalan also hoped to take his message to mom-and-pop theater owners, and, indirectly, to the studios as well.

He planned to set forth a two-pronged argument.

First, Shyamalan said, "Story is king. Storytelling is an ancient art form that has always been told to a group, and the reason is that we need to see the story through each others' point of view, like sitting next to someone whose sense of humor is different than yours. That's the way we grow. We can't disregard the effect we have on each other when we see a movie. I make them for a room full of 500 strangers, not a singular individual who only has a life experience like mine. That would be asinine."

Second, he proposed an economic motivation. "I'm out to prove that not only is it the morally right thing to do, but it's the financially right thing to do," he said. "Even if you didn't go see a film, and I went and told you about it, you now benefit from my group experience. Films have to exist in the world in their ideal form before you can exploit them ... (so) if chewing gum with a movie's logo makes more money than the movie, don't get seduced by the chewing gum."

Although he has made most of his films for Walt Disney Studios, Shyamalan is completing "Lady in the Water" for Warner Bros. But he attributed the studio shift to creative differences that occurred before Disney CEO Robert Iger proposed, in an analysts' call in August, releasing DVDs during the theatrical window.

Shyamalan said such suggestions are "totally misguided and ridiculous. If you had 12 great stories to tell, you would be cherishing those four months (during which a movie screens theatrically). ... Rather than the studios' mandate being, 'We shouldn't go into a $200 million production when we don't have a screenplay,' it's, 'Let's cut the theatrical experience.' That's crazy."

Shyamalan first took up the cause of preserving current exhibition patterns at the annual DGA Feature Directors Night dinner in June in New York, attended by more than 50 helmers.

"I heard this idea (of collapsing windows) being promoted, and it really, really upset me," he said. "I felt such an apathy (in the room), like, 'Oh, it's inevitable.' No, it's not. If it were, then a penguin documentary ('March of the Penguins') wouldn't make $75 million in theaters.

"We have these business guys coming in, many of whom haven't been part of the industry, saying, 'This is how it's gonna be.' And then you had a few (directors') voices in support of the experiment. And I went 'whoa, whoa, whoa -- this is sacred to me. I'm not gonna let the theatrical experience just go away like this.' I made it clear that night that we're all losing faith and that we don't have to stand by and let this art form be rolled over."

His stance has pitted him against Steven Soderbergh, who has committed to making six films for 2929 Entertainment for simultaneous release on various platforms. The directors spoke privately at the DGA dinner, and, Shyamalan said, "We both love cinema. I love that guy; he was very gracious during our conversation, and it was very eye-opening to have it. I don't know if he thinks I'm naive about my position. I just feel this idea of releasing everything at the same time is gonna kill us."

Soderbergh, who's filming "The Good German" for Warners, was unavailable for comment.

Although advocates of shrinking windows have argued that it will help to cut down piracy, Shyamalan predicted that it would have the opposite effect "by giving pirates a perfect copy of a film in stores at 9 a.m. on the day it opens." Comparing theatrical showings to music concerts, he added, "The theatrical experience is the only thing that can't be pirated or duplicated, and it's different every single time."

He also speculated that some artists might be warming to the idea of simultaneous releases because they think it will lead to an new infusion of capital, but he said "the theory that there would be more money to go around ... is of no importance to me whatsoever. And no one will claim it's important to them, but that's one of the real factors."

Shyamalan has found support for his position at Warners. Said president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman: "The downturn in boxoffice is not related entirely to video release dates. Boxoffice is historically content-driven, and as an industry we fell short this year as a result." But, he noted, simultaneous theatrical/DVD release dates "are not going to happen at Warner Bros."

The director originally planned to join John Fithian, National Association of Theatre Owners president, onstage Tuesday but was forced to delay his appearance when Hurricane Wilma interrupted air service. Beyond making his appeal to exhibitors, Shyamalan said he has no plans to work in concert with NATO on the issue.

But as a measure of his commitment to the cause, he added, "I just finished shooting ('Lady in the Water' on Friday). I'm exhausted. My family hasn't seen me. I hate flying -- I feel like I'm gonna die when I get on a plane -- but I'm flying down to Orlando. It's that important to me."

After explaining his theory of the "collective soul" that can be found among a movie audience, he said, "The ideal form is the movie theatrical experience. If they try to convince us otherwise, they are lying." Acknowledging that he had benefited from DVDs, he added, " 'The Sixth Sense' DVD bought my house. You know what? Take my house," a remark that drew a big cheer from the crowd.

"I don't believe this is inevitable," he said to the exhibitors of the threat of shrinking windows, but, he warned, "If this goes through, you know theaters are closing down. It's going to crush you guys."

At the end of his speech, the audience rose and gave Shyamalan a standing ovation.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

diggler

i never thought i'd say it, but i agree with shyamalan
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Gamblour.

Well, he's definitely right about piracy. But, I can't help but think about how much Soderbergh loves movies and what he must think about this. He obviously thinks that it wouldn't do so much hurt to the industry. I think Shyamalan's got a point to an extent, maybe in principle, but there's that thing that Soderbergh isn't the devil and can't be completely wrong.

I don't know.
WWPTAD?

Ravi

A big part of watching a movie is the experience of seeing it onscreen with other people.  However, factors that impede this experience have been increasingly popping up.  More ads before the feature, mediocre presentation, cell phones, high cost of tickets, etc.  For the cost of two tickets to a movie, you can buy the DVD outright in the first week of release.  Its up to the audiences to decide whether the benefits of going to the theater outweigh the annoyances.  It all comes down to content, ultimately.  Are people willing to see a given film despite the ticket prices and the ads and the cell phones?

Not everyone has a giant front projection system in their house, of course, but you can cheaply buy your own Dolby Digital and DTS systems and enjoy pretty good sound at home, even if it is a home-theater-in-a-box.  Of course, if you have an HDTV, the video quality will be even better.

There's nothing like watching a good comedy in a packed theater with a responsive crowd.

pete

Quote from: RaviNot everyone has a giant front projection system in their house, of course, but you can cheaply buy your own Dolby Digital and DTS systems and enjoy pretty good sound at home, even if it is a home-theater-in-a-box.


you can?  where?
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Gold Trumpet

The good thing about what Soderbergh is doing is allowing for the hard to come by films to really come by quickly to some of us. I can't tell you how many films I know I don't have a shot in the world to see until it comes out on video. I don't think shyamalan has anything to worry about. His films will be seen on opening weekend and as much as theaters are the ideal, they are impossible for many people. Great art films are almost as restricted in viewing as Broadway shows. Soderbergh's idea, if any anything, gets these films a better release.

Tictacbk

I'm surprised i'm agreeing with M. Night too.  This is the first i've heard of "closing the window," and I think its an awful idea. Especially if its an idea that they think will stop pirating.  And financially I don't understand any of their reasoning.  If a movie I want to see comes out in a theatre near me I'm going to go see it in theatres and then highly anticipate the dvd release.  Plus who wants to blind buy every movie they want to see?


But i do think M. Night is stupid for thinking that vowing not to make any more movies is a great threat to anyone.

Myxo

Films will never leave the theater as we know it. Americans won't stand for movies going straight to DVD. It ruins the entire cinematic experience and fucks with the escape that you simply can't re-create at home.